QBS Software Blog - Generalhttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/
http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specificationBlogEngine.NET 1.6.1.0en-GBhttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/opml.axdhttp://www.dotnetblogengine.net/syndication.axdMy nameQBS Software Blog0.0000000.000000What is PDF/A validation and why does your archive need it?<div Style="float: left; width:600px">
<img src="http://blog.qbssoftware.com/image.axd?picture=2017%2f3%2fPDFA-validation-blog.png" width="600" alt="" />
<p><em><b>Written by David Ronald</b></em></p>
If you’re creating documents containing business information that has long-term relevance and/or you’re creating an archive that users may access way down the line, you want to ensure those PDF files will be usable. Since PDF is regulated by an ISO standard, it’s meant to be future-compatible, but you have to follow some principles of interoperability to ensure that’s true.
In order for your PDF files to be accessible in the long run, you need to validate their correctness and long-term legibility. Fortunately, there’s an easy answer because this is precisely what PDF/A validation does for you.
<h2>What is PDF/A?</h2>
The PDF/A ISO standard is a set of guidelines that dictates certain restrictions on how what a PDF file can contain and the processes you use to create it. That’s why it rules out some features that aren’t compatible with long-term readability and view-ability. That means features such as encryption, non-embedded fonts, external references to multimedia content and 3D content, among others.
When you validate a PDF/A file or process, you check documents for compliance with the ISO standards for PDF and PDF/A documents. Once your files are validated, you can be confident that they’re suitable to go in your archive and will be accessible in the long term.
<h2>PDF/A validation best practices</h2>
Here are the top ways to ensure your PDF files are validated appropriately:
<ol>
<li>Use Foxit PhantomPDF to validate single PDF files. PhantomPDF has PDF/A, PDF/E and PDF/X compliance validation built right in and lets you detect and fix problems.</li>
<li>Use Foxit pdf compressor to set up a process for validating large numbers of scans. If you’re working scans at an enterprise-level scale, you can create a process validation in order to handle checking for PDF/A compliance automatically. Once you set it up (and ensure it’s working with a few tests of random samples), you can set it and forget it.</li>
<li>Set up a single entity responsible for validating incoming files. This is how they do it in Germany, the birthplace of PDF Compressor, where there are 400 savings banks and one service provider runs the central archive. Because the service provider is the single point of responsibility, they validate each and every incoming PDF file for PDF/A as they receive it. (If you want resources to create this kind of validation solution, contact us for a recommendation on good partners to help you do it.)</li>
</ol>
Keep in mind, the whole point of having an archive is enabling your PDF files to be accessible for the foreseeable—and not so foreseeable—future. If you’re archiving without validation, you may be inadvertently saving bad pdfs that are unreadable, unsearchable and generally unusable. It’s just one more reason to use PDF/A to ensure the highest technical quality of your business documents.
</div>http://blog.qbssoftware.com/post/2017/03/22/What-is-PDFA-validation-and-why-does-your-archive-need-it.aspx
QBShttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/post/2017/03/22/What-is-PDFA-validation-and-why-does-your-archive-need-it.aspx#commenthttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/post.aspx?id=45153214-819f-4d3f-8215-eaf8d75759a2Wed, 22 Mar 2017 16:30:00 +0000GeneralQBShttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/pingback.axdhttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/post.aspx?id=45153214-819f-4d3f-8215-eaf8d75759a20http://blog.qbssoftware.com/trackback.axd?id=45153214-819f-4d3f-8215-eaf8d75759a2http://blog.qbssoftware.com/post/2017/03/22/What-is-PDFA-validation-and-why-does-your-archive-need-it.aspx#commenthttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/syndication.axd?post=45153214-819f-4d3f-8215-eaf8d75759a2Empowering Colleagues to Share Knowledge Companywide - TechSmith Case Study<div Style="float: left; width:600px">
<a href="https://youtu.be/7Pt-j__OfHM"><img src="http://blog.qbssoftware.com/image.axd?picture=2017%2f3%2fvirgin-media-customer-story-casson.gif" alt="Empowering Colleagues to Share Knowledge Companywide - TechSmith Case Study"></a>
<p><em><b>Case Study by TechSmith</b></em></p>
<p>Formed in 2006, Virgin Media serves millions of customers in the United Kingdom with television, broadband internet and telephony services. Virgin Media employees continuously push themselves to “change the game,” a phrase that describes their dedication to doing things better, smarter and faster than anyone else.</p>
<p>The company was formed through several mergers throughout the years, bringing people with different backgrounds and experiences together to form what is known as Virgin Media today. As one of the largest media companies in the world, Virgin Media has thousands of colleagues to train and support every day.</p>
<p>The Virgin Media workforce collectively holds years of company history and specialised knowledge. However, this ‘tacit’ knowledge is notoriously difficult to capture and share. When Casson McRae, a learning technologies business partner on the training and development team at Virgin Media, tasked himself with changing the game of training at the company, he turned to TechSmith for help.</p>
<h2><b>The challenge</h2></b>
<p>Casson and the training and development team at Virgin Media knew that years of personal experience and knowledge was locked away in the minds of peers across the company. More importantly, a number of those peers were getting close to retirement. Casson and his team needed to find a way that would allow everyone to share their personal knowledge quickly and easily.</p>
<p>“We have an internal social network at Virgin Media on which colleagues share information every day,” said Casson. “We wanted a more effective approach to sharing information across this network, which is why we decided to focus on video as an engaging way to capture and share knowledge from colleagues.”</p>
<p>While video recording and editing programs are more affordable and powerful than ever, Casson didn’t want to make the video process difficult or intimidating with the complex features found in many video programs. He needed a simple interface with the ability to record sound and the screen in front of the employee.</p>
<h2><b>The solution</h2></b>
<p>The training team turned to TechSmith Snagit for simple video recording and sharing. Snagit allows users to make quick and simple screen recordings that can be shared on nearly any platform, making it the perfect tool for the job. However, instead of simply rolling Snagit out to 150 colleagues, Casson and his team decided to roll it out to 15,000 employees company wide instead.</p>
<p>“Snagit makes it easy for all of our colleagues to quickly record their knowledge as simple videos for peers to use to do their jobs.” said Casson. “Colleagues are able walk through a routine process or respond to questions with videos and share them through our internal social network for all to see.”</p>
<p>With the simplicity of video recording in Snagit, the training and development team was able to focus on sharing knowledge between colleagues, instead of training peers on best practices for video effects or advanced video editing functions. All colleagues had to do was gather their thoughts and press the record button to make short, informative videos for their peers.</p>
<h2><b>The results</h2></b>
<p>As more colleagues watch videos created by their colleagues, they are able to see just how easy it is to share knowledge with video. By installing Snagit on computers across the company, Virgin Media colleagues already have everything they need to make informative videos and images of their own.</p>
<p>“Training departments today can’t know everything,” said Casson. “We have to rely on the expertise of our colleagues and show them the most efficient and effective ways to share their personal knowledge with others. Snagit makes it easy for us to empower colleagues across the company to do just that.”</p>
<p>As retiring colleagues share the videos they have created, Casson and the training and development team encourage others to share their expertise by creating their own videos. By offering a simple and quick way to share information, the training and development team at Virgin Media has ensured that the personal experience and knowledge of one becomes readily available to all.</p>
</div>http://blog.qbssoftware.com/post/2017/03/06/Empowering-Colleagues-to-Share-Knowledge-Companywide-TechSmith-Case-Study.aspx
QBShttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/post/2017/03/06/Empowering-Colleagues-to-Share-Knowledge-Companywide-TechSmith-Case-Study.aspx#commenthttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/post.aspx?id=d29c5b69-2bc2-40a4-ad5c-4cd0f52eb568Mon, 06 Mar 2017 08:54:00 +0000GeneralQBShttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/pingback.axdhttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/post.aspx?id=d29c5b69-2bc2-40a4-ad5c-4cd0f52eb5680http://blog.qbssoftware.com/trackback.axd?id=d29c5b69-2bc2-40a4-ad5c-4cd0f52eb568http://blog.qbssoftware.com/post/2017/03/06/Empowering-Colleagues-to-Share-Knowledge-Companywide-TechSmith-Case-Study.aspx#commenthttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/syndication.axd?post=d29c5b69-2bc2-40a4-ad5c-4cd0f52eb568Bluebeam Case Study | Delivering Impressive Performance and Increased Efficiency<div Style="float: left; width:600px">
<p><a href="http://www.qbssoftware.com/publishers/Bluebeam/products/_pubBLUEBEAMSO"><img src="http://blog.qbssoftware.com/image.axd?picture=2017%2f2%2fbluebeam_logo_blog.png" alt="BluebeamLogo" width="240" height="150" hspace="30" align="left"/></a></p>
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<h1>Delivering Impressive Performance and Increased Efficiency</h1>
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<h4>Hilson Moran Redefines Project Efficiency With Revu</h4>
<p>With 40 years of experience within the build environment, Hilson Moran has embarked on a digital strategy to completely transform its workflows. A key tool in this initiative is <a href="http://www.qbssoftware.com/products/Bluebeam_Revu/overview/_prodPDFREVU">Bluebeam Revu</a>—an award-winning PDF creation, editing, markup and collaboration technology designed for the engineering and construction industry. <a href="http://www.qbssoftware.com/products/Bluebeam_Revu/overview/_prodPDFREVU">Bluebeam Revu</a> has provided the engineering consultancy instant time-saving dividends when handling contractor drawing and technical submittal reviews, whilst converting the firm’s paper-based traditional workflows into digital solutions.</p>
<h4>Why Go Digital After 40 Years?</h4>
<p>“There is no doubt the digital revolution has now arrived in the construction industry and it is starting to make a real impact. User-friendly software like <a href="http://www.qbssoftware.com/products/Bluebeam_Revu/overview/_prodPDFREVU">Bluebeam Revu</a> is at the forefront of this change,” observes Hilson Moran’s digital champion, Director Vince Ugarow.</p>
<p>“Our users actually see the benefit of Revu,” explains Finance Director Roger Waters-Duke. “Our engineers say it actually makes their life easier and that’s part of why the product is the quickest software to ever be adopted at Hilson Moran. We went from 10 licences a year ago to 229 licences now across the whole company.”</p>
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<h4>Rolling Out Revu</h4>
<p>The forward-thinking management team at Hilson Moran first introduced Revu to a small innovation team and implemented the software on PCs, laptops and Wacom tablets. The same design and construction information previously found on sheets of drawing paper could now be seen on screens and tablets, giving this group of employees the degree of familiarity to explore and innovate new workflows, before actually trialing it on a sample project. After finding first-time success in using Revu on a peer review for a very large residential development in South London, Hilson Moran began implementing the software across the company.</p>
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<h4>Training Time</h4>
<p>Hilson Moran organised a tutorial with an external trainer for first-time users to help them become familiar with the features. After a few larger overview sessions, the staff broke out into groups of five. These groups were trained extensively and eventually colleagues began teaching each other Revu features and shortcuts. “I used it experimenting with the different tools and features just to get an idea of how the different things worked,” says Mechanical Design Engineer Stephen Atemie.</p>
<h4>Workflow Innovations</h4>
<p>One of the unique features Hilson Moran credits to the quick success of implementing <a href="http://www.qbssoftware.com/products/Bluebeam_Revu/overview/_prodPDFREVU">Bluebeam Revu</a> is the ability to make customised tool sets within the program. “Each department has their own tool sets, so mechanical and electrical engineers can each drop their respective drawing symbols into drawings, which makes marking up and sketching much, much quicker,” declares Mechanical Design Engineer Will Major. “We have actually created some custom tool sets which are considered Hilson Moran tool sets for specific tasks. These can range from very simple line types to detailed engineering symbols that we all use, ensuring consistency and quality,” adds Ugarow.</p>
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<p>A popular workflow that Revu makes easy for Hilson Moran is the design review process. Atemie explains the early workflow: “Before, you would get sent the drawing—say from an architect or a client—and you would print it out, make your markup in your sketches on the drawing and then scan that back onto the system which, depending on the quality of the scan, might not necessarily show all the details that you want. Then, if you needed to make changes again, you would print off the scanned version, draw on that and then scan that back into the system, which, each time you do it, would reduce the quality of the drawing and use a lot more paper.” Atemie and the whole firm, now prefers the paperless way. </p>
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<blockquote><h4 class="subheading"><em>“<a href="http://www.qbssoftware.com/products/Bluebeam_Revu/overview/_prodPDFREVU">Bluebeam Revu</a> has massively helped my project work. It has made me much quicker and more efficient and I think a step towards a paper–free office is definitely a good thing.” <cite>Hilson Moran Mechanical Design Engineer Will Major</cite></em></h4></blockquote>
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<p>Revu features like Batch Overlay, which allows multiple pairs of file revisions to be easily compared, are popular, while markups and custom tool sets round out Revu feature favorites.</p>
<p>Waters-Duke remains optimistic in how much further digital solutions will take the company. “We are looking to use Bluebeam Studio to allow us to collaborate between our UK, Abu Dhabi and Qatar offices for much more seamless collaboration.”</p>
<h4>Measuring Success</h4>
<p>Waters-Duke has seen the positive side of implementing digital solutions for the engineering consultancy. “When I first joined Hilson Moran ten years ago, there were drawing boards everywhere,” he says with a laugh. “Everybody still did everything on large printers and our printers were slow. Therefore, it took a lot of time to print out drawings, mark them up, scan them and then return them to an architect. Today with Revu, we are now able to streamline that process and it allows us to electronically mark the drawings and return them to the architect without ever having to print them, which also not only improves our efficiency, but also improves the environment.”</p>
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</div>http://blog.qbssoftware.com/post/2017/02/14/Bluebeam-Case-Study-7c-Delivering-Impressive-Performance-and-Increased-Efficiency.aspx
QBShttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/post/2017/02/14/Bluebeam-Case-Study-7c-Delivering-Impressive-Performance-and-Increased-Efficiency.aspx#commenthttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/post.aspx?id=faa72b93-8abb-4064-8a8c-4b0872fb9743Tue, 14 Feb 2017 15:29:00 +0000GeneralQBShttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/pingback.axdhttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/post.aspx?id=faa72b93-8abb-4064-8a8c-4b0872fb97431http://blog.qbssoftware.com/trackback.axd?id=faa72b93-8abb-4064-8a8c-4b0872fb9743http://blog.qbssoftware.com/post/2017/02/14/Bluebeam-Case-Study-7c-Delivering-Impressive-Performance-and-Increased-Efficiency.aspx#commenthttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/syndication.axd?post=faa72b93-8abb-4064-8a8c-4b0872fb9743How a managed service provider can help your small business grow<p>IT is an integral part of the day-to-day operations for most businesses today. The smooth operation of integral systems is a target which many organisations struggle to achieve. With the cost of in-house staff ever-increasing, many find employing external contractor a tempting alternative.</p>
<p>
<table style="width: 623px;" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2">
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<td width="216" valign="top"><a href="http://blog.qbssoftware.com/image.axd?picture=Services_network.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="Services_network" src="http://blog.qbssoftware.com/image.axd?picture=Services_network_thumb.jpg" border="0" alt="Services_network" width="188" height="142" /></a></td>
<td width="405" valign="top">IT Services companies provide two basic models of servicing their customer. The traditional &ldquo;break-fix&rdquo; model which is still the most popular form of providing IT services to customers. When the customer experiences a technical issue with their systems they raise a ticket with the support company. The resolution of the issue depends on the nature of the problem and the Service Level Agreement which both sides agree to.</td>
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<p>Managed Service Providers supply a more advanced method of looking after their customers. They constantly monitor a customer&rsquo;s systems looking for issues which are not yet felt by the end users. Their aim is to eliminate potential problem before they begin to affect the operations of the customer. In this scenario the only way for the managed service provider to make money is to maintain the systems in the best possible way using IT best practice.</p>
<p>In addition to the above, they often take care of all the software and hardware purchases required as well as manage customer&rsquo;s interaction with other suppliers (broadband supplier, phone line supplier, often even electricity supplier) allowing the customer to have truly one point of contact for any issues that may arise.</p>
<p>How can this benefit the small business owner? Managed service providers employ experienced IT support staff who will take the time to understand a customer&rsquo;s business first. They then offer solutions to the pain points which the customer points out. They are constantly on the looking for ways to make the infrastructure more reliable. By eliminating most avoidable issues as well as preparing for possible failures they will be prepared to react if a serious issue occurs, therefore limiting or eliminating data loss and impact to the customer&rsquo;s business.</p>
<p>As you can see the fact that Managed Service Providers offer a proactive way of managing the customer&rsquo;s infrastructure, makes it a far more superior method of IT management, allowing the customer to concentrate on what they do best, in turn making them more competitive and successful.</p>http://blog.qbssoftware.com/post/2012/05/23/How-a-managed-service-provider-can-help-your-small-business-grow.aspx
Mateusz Jazdzewskihttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/post/2012/05/23/How-a-managed-service-provider-can-help-your-small-business-grow.aspx#commenthttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/post.aspx?id=b6dc391c-3ecb-4d13-b28e-021fa0bb56eaWed, 23 May 2012 16:50:00 +0000GeneralMateusz Jazdzewskihttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/pingback.axdhttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/post.aspx?id=b6dc391c-3ecb-4d13-b28e-021fa0bb56ea0http://blog.qbssoftware.com/trackback.axd?id=b6dc391c-3ecb-4d13-b28e-021fa0bb56eahttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/post/2012/05/23/How-a-managed-service-provider-can-help-your-small-business-grow.aspx#commenthttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/syndication.axd?post=b6dc391c-3ecb-4d13-b28e-021fa0bb56eaBusiness Intelligence with Crystal Reports<p><a href="http://blog.qbssoftware.com/image.axd?picture=SAPDashboardPic.png"><img title="SAPDashboardPic" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: left; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" src="http://blog.qbssoftware.com/image.axd?picture=SAPDashboardPic_thumb.png" border="0" alt="SAPDashboardPic" width="181" height="104" align="left" /></a>In tough economic times the ability to analyse your past and present business data and the ability to predict future trends can give you a competitive advantage. Armed with a powerful reporting tool, you have a 360 degree view of your operation. Business Intelligence (BI) tools, therefore, can provide great help with many of your decision-making processes and can go a long way in offering your company a significant competitive advantage.</p>
<p>Crystal Reports from SAP is one of the most popular BI tools available. It has very extensive reporting capabilities on a wide range of data sources.</p>
<p>Accessible data sources include the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>Databases such as PostgreSQL, Sybase, IBM DB2, Ingres, Microsoft Access, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, Interbase and Oracle</li>
<li>Btrieve</li>
<li>Spreadsheets such as Microsoft Excel</li>
<li>Text files</li>
<li>HTML and XML files</li>
<li>Groupware applications as Lotus Notes, Microsoft Exchange and Novell GroupWise</li>
<li>SAP: BW, Info Sets, Tables, and Business Objects Universes</li>
<li>Any other data source accessible through a web service, ODBC, JDBC or OLAP</li>
<li>Salesforce.com </li>
</ul>
<p>In total there are over 40 available data sources.</p>
<p>Once you extract the data required from your data sources you can use the tools provided to sort, group and present it in the way which is easiest for you to understand. Crystal Reports offers you a high degree of flexibility and control over the way you present the data. You have the ability to further increase visual impact by choosing from a wide variety of map and chart types.</p>
<p>You can also add formulas to process available data.</p>
<p>Reports can be displayed in a number of formats including PDF, Excel, XML, HTML, and RTF to name only a few. This allows you to provide recipients with a report in the format they expect.</p>
<p>Crystal Reports is licensed per named user.</p>
<p>To get a feel for the software please visit the below link to download a fully functional 30 day trial:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.qbssoftware.com/products/SAP_Crystal_Reports/downloads/_prodcrysrep">Crystal Reports trial</a></p>
<p>Crystal reports is a worthy investment for any business which needs to create and process interactive reports to stay ahead of their competition.</p>http://blog.qbssoftware.com/post/2012/02/20/Business-Intelligence-with-Crystal-Reports.aspx
Mateusz Jazdzewskihttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/post/2012/02/20/Business-Intelligence-with-Crystal-Reports.aspx#commenthttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/post.aspx?id=0a863639-4129-42b7-a3ec-7aea8748fecbMon, 20 Feb 2012 14:14:00 +0000GeneralMateusz Jazdzewskihttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/pingback.axdhttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/post.aspx?id=0a863639-4129-42b7-a3ec-7aea8748fecb0http://blog.qbssoftware.com/trackback.axd?id=0a863639-4129-42b7-a3ec-7aea8748fecbhttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/post/2012/02/20/Business-Intelligence-with-Crystal-Reports.aspx#commenthttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/syndication.axd?post=0a863639-4129-42b7-a3ec-7aea8748fecbDrowning in Data?<p>In today&rsquo;s working environment we have to deal with receiving information from many different sources, in multiple formats, which we are struggling to manage, digest and navigate the information to get to what is relevant. Something as simple as searching for information can waste a lot of time and have a big effect on our own productivity, and in turn can affect performance and job satisfaction.</p>
<p><br />We decided to conduct some research into this issue of information overload, with the aim of quantifying how much of a problem this is proving for office workers and consequently businesses today. Our survey was conducted by One Poll to office workers across the UK, Sweden and Holland, and asked a series of questions to find out how much information we receive on a daily basis and from which sources. The results of this research have provided some very interesting insights into around how the information that faces us on a daily basis is affecting employee efficiency and ultimately costing businesses.</p>
<p><br />View our infographic of UK results:</p>
<p><br /><a href="http://blog.qbssoftware.com/image.axd?picture=Data-WEB-01.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="Data-WEB-01" src="http://blog.qbssoftware.com/image.axd?picture=Data-WEB-01_thumb.jpg" border="0" alt="Data-WEB-01" width="629" height="447" /></a></p>
<p><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">This is a guest blog post by Chris Harman who is an accomplished business leader with over 15 years&rsquo; experience in managing Sales and Marketing teams across EMEA and America. In his role as Regional VP NEWS at Mindjet, Chris directs Sales and Business Development across Northern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and is responsible for the operational and strategic management of the region.</span></em></p>
<p><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Prior to joining Mindjet, Chris held various senior management positions in the technology sector, working for organisations that included Infinium Software, Comshare and Geac Computer Corporation. Amongst these, was his role as Regional VP of US West for Infor (previously Geac), in which he was responsible for managing the Sales teams for the Performance Management and Expense Management product suites across the US West and Canada.</span></em></p>http://blog.qbssoftware.com/post/2011/12/08/Drowning-in-Data.aspx
Chris Harmanhttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/post/2011/12/08/Drowning-in-Data.aspx#commenthttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/post.aspx?id=64cbd499-7fec-4fc5-8e06-48ef4b51e788Thu, 08 Dec 2011 15:54:00 +0000GeneralChris Harmanhttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/pingback.axdhttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/post.aspx?id=64cbd499-7fec-4fc5-8e06-48ef4b51e7880http://blog.qbssoftware.com/trackback.axd?id=64cbd499-7fec-4fc5-8e06-48ef4b51e788http://blog.qbssoftware.com/post/2011/12/08/Drowning-in-Data.aspx#commenthttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/syndication.axd?post=64cbd499-7fec-4fc5-8e06-48ef4b51e788Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery Is Not Just For Insurance<p><em>Business continuity plans are often seen as insurance policies - something that organisations don&rsquo;t really want to pay for, but feel they have to. In the worst cases, some don&rsquo;t bother at all, thinking &ldquo;it won&rsquo;t happen to me.&rdquo; However, as more and more companies rely on IT to support the everyday running of the business, the need for disaster recovery and business continuity plans continues to grow. </em></p>
<p><em></em></p>
<p><em>Organisations should not just see business continuity as an insurance policy though. Instead of being a necessary cost that delivers little value, the opportunity is there to re-assess the company&rsquo;s wider IT infrastructure and think about future plans for IT. </em></p>
<p><em></em></p>
<p><em>Linking continuity planning into virtualisation provides a means to achieve cost savings through server consolidation: a reduced number of physical servers and the power to run them means less cost to the business, but continuity and DR plans can be added into this solution at the same time. Companies can use their savings here to buy in extra storage and replicate data across to a second back-up server, or use a service provider to host their secondary systems.</em></p>
<p><em></em></p>
<p><em>Similarly, companies can look at remote working and giving staff access to services over the internet - backing up data and applications across to a second site provides redundancy for disaster events, but this investment can also make staff more flexible in how they work, providing a day-to-day business benefit too.</em></p>
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<p><em>Not having access to IT systems can cause disruption to the business, which can lead to loss of revenue and have a lasting impact on the company&rsquo;s reputation. For many companies that hold customer data - banks and other financial institutions, for example - data loss is not an option due to legislation from the Financial Services Authority.</em></p>
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<p><em>When thinking about business continuity, organisations should consider what amount downtime they can afford without causing too much disruption to the business, as well as the amount of data they are prepared to lose. This is important as it will affect the type of BC solution that is suitable for the business. </em></p>
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<h4><em>Ian Masters &ndash; Sales and Marketing Director</em></h4>
<p><em>Ian is UK Sales Director at Vision Solutions, and has been advising organisations on their requirements for business continuity, disaster recovery and backup for over a decade. He has a wide background in the virtualisation, storage and high availability space, working across multiple platforms. Recently, he has also entered into the world of desktop virtualisation following the launch of Double-Take Flex.</em></p>
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<p><em>His previous role was UK Sales and Marketing Director at Double-Take Software, who were acquired by Vision Solutions, and prior he worked as UK &amp; Ireland Country Manager with Sunbelt Software, a supplier of Windows management tools and security software. Ian studied at Bangor University, North Wales, and gained a BSC (Hons) in Marine Zoology.</em></p>
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Ian Mastershttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/post/2011/08/02/Business-continuity.aspx#commenthttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/post.aspx?id=ea77f712-61dc-4e05-8e90-dbd01940a5baTue, 02 Aug 2011 12:15:00 +0000GeneralIan Mastershttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/pingback.axdhttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/post.aspx?id=ea77f712-61dc-4e05-8e90-dbd01940a5ba60http://blog.qbssoftware.com/trackback.axd?id=ea77f712-61dc-4e05-8e90-dbd01940a5bahttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/post/2011/08/02/Business-continuity.aspx#commenthttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/syndication.axd?post=ea77f712-61dc-4e05-8e90-dbd01940a5baWhat is software?<p>Recently I came across quite an interesting question. A friend of mine asked me what software is. I thought that this was a very valid question, as not many people can produce a definition on the spot. After some short research I came across a brilliant definition on Wikipedia:</p>
<p><em>Software is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide a computer with instructions on what to do and how to do it. </em></p>
<p>I think it is a very adequate definition. Not every computer program is software. Software is a collection of programs which coupled with data allows the computer to perform certain tasks.</p>
<p>Ok, so how is the software made? Well this is usually a long process which involves writing loads of lines of code. The code (or the computer program syntax) can be written in a number of computer languages by computer programmers or software developers. They usually use some development tools like IDE (integrated development environment). The most popular IDE on the market is <a style="color:Blue" href="http://www.qbssoftware.com/products/Visual_Studio_2010/overview/_prodmsvs2010">Visual Studio</a>.</p>
<p><a style="color:Blue" href="http://www.qbssoftware.com/products/Visual_Studio_2010/overview/_prodmsvs2010">Visual Studio</a> allows developers to create computer programs using a number of computer languages. Most popular computer languages used in <a style="color:Blue" href="http://www.qbssoftware.com/products/Visual_Studio_2010/overview/_prodmsvs2010">Visual Studio</a> are C++, C# and VB.NET.</p>
<p>A long time ago developers noticed that they spend most of their time writing the same code over and over again. They then created a theory of object oriented programming. This theory allows developers to create short computer programs called objects which can be reused multiple times in building their future programs.</p>
<p>There are also commercially available components on the market which make writing computer programs quicker and easier. Two of the main publishers of such components are <a style="color:Blue" href="http://www.qbssoftware.com/products/ComponentOne_Studio_Enterprise/overview/_prodCOMPOSTE">ComponentOne</a> and <a style="color:Blue" href="http://www.qbssoftware.com/products/Telerik_Ultimate_Collection_for_NET/overview/_prodtelultimat">Telerik</a>.</p>
<p>Once you create your application you will need packaging software which will take care of the installation process. There are two leading software packaging products on the market: <a style="color:Blue" href="http://www.qbssoftware.com/products/InstallShield/overview/_prodinstall">InstallShield</a> and <a style="color:Blue" href="http://www.qbssoftware.com/products/Wise_Package_Studio/overview/_prodwisepack">Wise Package Studio</a>. These packages will allow you to create an easy installation process for your customers to follow in order to correctly install your applications on their computers.</p>
<p>Good luck with your first project! Let us know how it went.</p>
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Mateusz Jazdzewskihttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/post/2011/07/07/What-is-software.aspx#commenthttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/post.aspx?id=63b34de8-9ba3-4c8f-a15e-307b3460fd6bThu, 07 Jul 2011 15:30:00 +0000GeneralMateusz Jazdzewskihttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/pingback.axdhttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/post.aspx?id=63b34de8-9ba3-4c8f-a15e-307b3460fd6b13http://blog.qbssoftware.com/trackback.axd?id=63b34de8-9ba3-4c8f-a15e-307b3460fd6bhttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/post/2011/07/07/What-is-software.aspx#commenthttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/syndication.axd?post=63b34de8-9ba3-4c8f-a15e-307b3460fd6bIs It Time To Revive The Subbotnik?<p>...continuing the theme of the work/life balance (<a href="http://bit.ly/e3nzFJ)">http://bit.ly/e3nzFJ)</a>, it has almost become axiomatic for many workers that zero hours contracts are, if not executed in name, are expected in spirit to some extent. Work/home boundaries blur in a physical sense and time follows suit. Gordon Gekko philosophy lives: lunch is for wimps. Workers feel insecure as jobs become scarce and redundancies escalate; union protection is minimal. On a day when we have been told by the Bank of England that disposable income is at its lowest since the 1920s, many people need to work longer hours to makes ends meet and accept poor terms in an extremely competitive job market.</p>
<p>The amount of work that is not remunerated no doubt makes a significant contribution to the economy of the country and to private profits, if not to the pocket of those executing it. Many people are not averse to volunteering, but they are likely to want to choose a favoured charity or their local community on which to bestow additional time and effort rather than the office where they spent most of their week anyway. The on-demand availability of a workforce can lead to a reactive culture where less and less is planned and organised and uncertainty reigns. Volunteering has also been used as a way of de-skilling some professions. Cheapness becomes more important than quality or consistency and generations of knowledge are eroded.</p>
<p>The free-for-all of such working practices stands in contrast with one of the first organised attempts to harness volunteer labour when subbotniks and voskresniks were instituted by the Bolshevik government in 1919 following the third Russian Revolution (the name deriving from the Russian words for Saturday and Sunday). They involved citizens undertaking community duties such as litter clearing and took place against Russia's desperate struggle for survival in a civil war, following the ravages of the First World War. In later years, they became compulsory but were initially undertaken with genuine enthusiasm by a people trying to build a very new type of society.</p>
<p>Here, governments cannot quite decide whether voluntary work is a punishment, social obligation or a way to keep pesky pensioners off the streets during the day. It was announced in April 2009 (<a href="http://bit.ly/g4Xog6)">http://bit.ly/g4Xog6)</a> that Gordon Brown wanted to see every teenager in the country complete up to fifty hours of volunteer work by the age of 19. Something to do while they struggle to compete in a shrinking job market I suppose. Four pilot projects were established that were posed to become compulsory before Labour lost the election. David Cameron launched his "big society" drive in Liverpool (<a href="http://bit.ly/bIFD1O)">http://bit.ly/bIFD1O)</a> to make people feel so "free" and "powerful" that they no longer need public services or at least run their own voluntary schemes for "luxuries" such as libraries, post offices, transport and housing.</p>
<p>Perhaps we should make the workplace somewhere that is well-structured and organised enough to enable people to reclaim the concept of voluntary as something that is willingly given.</p>
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Charlotte Kasnerhttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/post/2011/02/10/Is-It-Time-To-Revive-The-Subbotnik.aspx#commenthttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/post.aspx?id=6750d053-c2ab-4e05-8e3e-f1d5727cb0a0Thu, 10 Feb 2011 09:30:00 +0000GeneralCharlotte Kasnerhttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/pingback.axdhttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/post.aspx?id=6750d053-c2ab-4e05-8e3e-f1d5727cb0a041http://blog.qbssoftware.com/trackback.axd?id=6750d053-c2ab-4e05-8e3e-f1d5727cb0a0http://blog.qbssoftware.com/post/2011/02/10/Is-It-Time-To-Revive-The-Subbotnik.aspx#commenthttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/syndication.axd?post=6750d053-c2ab-4e05-8e3e-f1d5727cb0a0Demos<p>Demos: yes an abbreviation for demonstration versions of software but, when combined with "kratia", ancient Greek meaning democracy. Even today, it is a word that can mean all things to all men and ancient Greece was no exception. A literal translation would be "people power" but who defines "people"? Like the supposed democracy following the French revolution and American Revolution, "people" were readily understood to mean basically white, freeborn males and franchise might still be restricted by a financial qualification.</p>
<p>Show of hand voting might work for an ancient Greek elite standing on a hillside and even for several hundred trade unionists at a factory gate (those were the days!) but is not very practical for a country-wide franchise, or even a city-wide franchise...until now, that is. Technology has enabled us to exercise an electronic version of a show of hands via online voting that could make "democracy" in its purest sense a reality. Online petitions have been available for some time now and the UK government, ever mindful of activating support, has promised that e-petitions of more than 100,000 signatories channelled through its website with receive automatic attention in parliament.</p>
<p>Whilst this sounds fine in principal, it raises many questions. What if the response in parliament is a cursory debate in the small hours of the morning? According to the government's own statistics, the resident population of the UK was estimated to be 61,792,000 in mid-2009. 100,000 people can hardly be called representative. They will be pretty annoyed if they feel that the government has only paid lip service to taking their views into account, making it likely that this sort of attempt at active democracy will backfire on the government and generate more resentment and passivity. Should responses be restricted to UK voters only and how will this be administered? When an MP agreed to sponsor a parliamentary bill chosen by Radio 4's Today programme listeners, he was unhappy with the most popular subject (the "right" of homeowners to defend their property with a defined use of force) which he felt had been hijacked by the American pro-gun lobby. He suggested that this dis-empowered him as an MP.&nbsp; There is also a potential problem of the collection of personal data by the government; fine if one considers the government to be largely benevolent but nevertheless making statistics on individuals&rsquo; opinions readily available in much the same way that CCTV has been used to monitor individuals participating in street demonstrations.</p>
<p>How should such petitions be handled? Are they worth signing? Can technology really be harnessed to democratic good or is a pacifier for the masses that leaves individuals vulnerable to political interference?</p>
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Charlotte Kasnerhttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/post/2011/01/17/Demos.aspx#commenthttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/post.aspx?id=6e17418b-3362-4005-add9-dcbc78e51e07Mon, 17 Jan 2011 12:24:00 +0000GeneralCharlotte Kasnerhttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/pingback.axdhttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/post.aspx?id=6e17418b-3362-4005-add9-dcbc78e51e0743http://blog.qbssoftware.com/trackback.axd?id=6e17418b-3362-4005-add9-dcbc78e51e07http://blog.qbssoftware.com/post/2011/01/17/Demos.aspx#commenthttp://blog.qbssoftware.com/syndication.axd?post=6e17418b-3362-4005-add9-dcbc78e51e07